Before Google Maps or navigation systems, there were shepherds and there were stars.

In the Old World, shepherds knew the sky and the terrain like a well-worn map.   They were quite different from farmers of the time, who had the means to at least own land or to buy livestock.  Shepherds survived on meager wages earned by watching the flocks of others.  Even so, they were well-travelled and moved from pasture to pasture, hillside to hillside.  If there ever was a change in the sky, or a happening on the horizon, shepherds often would have been the first to see it, and likely the first to tell of it.

There has always been great poetry in the way Heavenly Father sent word of the Savior’s birth, dispatching a beautiful chorus of angels to proclaim it to lowly shepherds.  There was also a message in this method.  By breaking the news on the hillsides above Bethlehem where only shepherds dwelt, those shepherds would be the ones to have the privilege of announcing to many that the greatest shepherd of all had been born into the world.

Turning the pages of  the well-read passages in Luke,  it is also meaningful to note that the story of Christ’s birth is as much about what happened to shepherds that night, as what happened in the manger:

“And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.  And lo the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were sore afraid.  And the angel said unto them “Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you;  Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.  And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.  And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.  But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.  And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

How marvelous to contemplate what it might have been like to see or hear of this greatest event in history.  Almost nothing we know of or have read since compares.  The scriptures give hints as to what the Second Coming of Christ might be like, and it is remarkable to try to imagine that.  Yet nothing in the history of the world compares with the simplicity and humility of the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ.

Today, two thousand years later, students gather to study the histories of the world in Jerusalem.  As part of their studies, students are sometimes taken to what is now known as “Shepherd’s Hill,” believed to be the site where angels appeared at the birth of Christ.  On one occasion, students there were ushered to the hillside overlooking Bethlehem.  They were surprised to find that it wasn’t at all what they expected.   Instead of a lovely, grassy, welcoming hillside like one might expect in a painting or impression of that night, it was a dry, desert-like hill, rough and terraced, covered with rocks and even thorny bushes.

Still, all of the students sat down, pulled out their journals and were encouraged to write as they looked over the historic horizon and pondered the events that happened there.   In addition to the quiet of this sacred site, they had been assured that they would be able to see shepherds on Shepherds Hill.  Indeed, after just a few minutes poor little shepherd boys appeared and came towards them,  their palms turned upward in hopes of receiving something from the tourists.  Even in modern times, the shepherd boys were dressed in rags.

One student wrote:

“A shepherd boy came towards me.   He was carrying a little lamb draped around his neck.  He, like the other boys, hoped we would give them money or treats.  He asked if I would like to hold the little sheep.  As I took the warm baby lamb in my arms, I began to feel the spirit of the shepherds in a way I had never done before.   Unlike Wise Men who came to see the Christ child bearing gifts, these humble, solitary shepherds had nothing to give except their devotion and their faith in the wondrous words they had heard.

“Just as shepherds stand watch while waiting for the darkness to pass,  the Savior was born to stand watch through long, dark, nights with us, despite the terrors and sometimes the hardships that this life can bring.

“He knows us, his sheep.  He is our shepherd.”

Those who truly reverence the life of Jesus Christ also understand that we are all shepherds.  In our homes, our churches, our communities we are all part of  sacred flocks who need direction, protection, and love.

It is the beauty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that we are here to serve one another.

And so, we watch over those in need, those who anguish.  We provide a shoulder or a hand, or a round of applause when someone in the flock has a great victory.  We share the Sacrament with one another in our services.  We struggle to rise to new callings because even while we are learning, our service is important to someone.  Sometimes all we can do to show our love for the Savior and each other is to add our voices to a hymn and sing praises to God.

Still, every time we set down a casserole at someone’s doorstep, or put a child in our lap, aid a wayward teenager, teach a class, present a merit badge, or bestow an award on a young woman who might not have received it without us …

Surely, angels are singing somewhere.

There is only one headline, one directive that we have received in the last two thousand years that surpasses all others, and which if followed, would help us to rule the world:  “Glory to God in the highest, Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men.”

If, as mortals, we could follow those messages and keep our sites set singly upon the glory of God, work for peace on earth, and extend goodwill to all men, all would be well.  At this Christmastime, may we find ways to re-dedicate ourselves to these simplest and most important of missions.

We are so blessed to know of, and to have a shepherd that we can trust.

Let us follow him.

“While shepherds careful vigil kept o’er lambs in fields of green.

The sky took on a brilliant glow and lit the grassy scene.

In dread they looked upon the star that rose anew that night.

Then angels came to calm their fears and tell of the heavenly light.

In word and song they shared the news of the babe who was their king.

They sang of peace and love and joy, and the good will he would bring.

The keepers of the flocks arose and followed the heavenly beam,

But not to gleaming palace walls as it would surely seem.

It led them to an earthen stall where cattle and goats were kept.

And in the manger soft and warm, the little Jesus slept.

Tears filled up their tired eyes and ran down wind burned cheeks.

They had found the promised one, for whom the world still seeks.

Though they were watchers of the flocks, tenders of lamb and ewe,

He was the keeper of God’s flock, HE was the shepherd true.”

— Sally Meyer

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Merry Christmas.

Chemotherpay at Duke Cancer Clinic

This article in today’s Salt Lake City Deseret News is so vital and informational to those who have or who are or who will confront Cancer in their families, that True North takes the opportunity to excerpt it here and thanks writer Lois M. Collins for her great piece and for spreading the news of the work of Massachusetts firm,  Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, for their innovatoins in Cancer research.

FIRM TAKES ENGINEERING APPROACH TO TREATING CANCER

A Massachusetts company with strong Utah ties is approaching the finding and fixing of cancerous tumors as an engineering challenge. It believes most solid tumors are triggered by one or more of six distinct systemic signaling-mechanism breakdowns and it’s developing treatments to repair them.

Merrimack Pharmaceuticals of Cambridge, Mass., on Thursday announced a $530 million exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with French pharmaceutical giant sanofi-aventis for the development and co-commercialization of a drug targeting the first of those

signaling breakdowns.

Chemotherapy Drugs

Developing drugs to treat diseases including cancer often involves throwing every compound you can think of at it to see what elicits the response you want, says Utahn Gary Crocker, chairman of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals and president of Utah’s Crocker Ventures LLC. But with new technologies that make it easier to look inside cells and see how they “cross talk,” Merrimack decided to view cancer as an engineering problem with an engineered solution. Merrimack uses network biology, which is a combination of computer modeling and efficient analysis of cell signaling networks.

Once you identify the breakdown in the signaling mechanism, it’s possible to engineer a diagnostic test and a fix, he told the Deseret News.

The company has confirmed five critical signaling networks where a breakdown can trigger cancer in different organ tissues. A sixth has been found but not yet confirmed, he said. Merrimack estimates the identified mechanical breakdowns are linked to at least 90 percent of solid tumors. That means the same problem may have occurred in a case of breast cancer and of prostate cancer although distinctly different organs are involved. And the treatment may be the same in both cases, too — a dramatic departure from a traditional chemotherapeutic approach.

“The goal is not to just kill cancer cells, but to actually fix the engineering breakdown that created the cancer,” Crocker said.

Merrimack is in early clinical trials with compounds that target some of the identified mechanism breakdowns. It’s a process being watched closely in Utah, as Beehive State investors hold about 10 percent of the company’s shares, including Crocker, a successful Utah businessman.

Additionally, Merrimack plans to move some of its research to the University of Utah College of Science, which has one of the nation’s top math biology programs. And the phase 2 clinical trials are likely to include Huntsman Cancer Institute, Crocker said.

Under the agreement, sanofi-aventis will pay $60 million cash and will cover all the development costs. The rest of the funding will be paid in chunks as various regulatory and sales milestones are met, said Kathleen Petrozzelli, Merrimack associate director of corporate communications. The company retains the right to co-promote the drug in the United States. The agreement covers only the drug MM-121, a first of its kind, fully human monoclonal antibody that blocks signaling at one of the identified breakdown sites. Once phase 2 “proof of concept” is established, sanofi-aventis will take over development.

The agreement still has to clear antitrust and regulatory reviews.

If you wanted to know what happened in the world today, NBC, CBS or ABC could sum it all up once a day,  in less than 30 minutes.

Tuning in to the Evening News was a national past time.

My parents even timed our T.V. dinners around it.   Today, Americans seldom watch the network news.

It’s practically irrelevant.  Sad to say,  because I know Brian William spends a fortune on his ties…

When I raced my bicycle around the neighborhood in the 70’s porching newspapers  in Utah, it never occurred to me, not even for a moment, that anything inside of the paper might be just one man’s opinion instead of the absolute truth. 

An  influential Journalism teacher of mine wouldn’t let us write for the school newspaper until we had passed an exam accurately defining the word  “Journalist”  as  ”an observer and reporter of fact.”  Opinion was considered  radioactive in that beginning news -writing class.

Today’s L.A. Times news staff, and many other newswriters today, wouldn’t fair so well in Mrs.        Williamsen’s Journalism class.  She made it very clear that “news” meant :   who,   what, where, why, when and how.  Not one verb more.

Today, we’ re running out of people to trust.

More and more good people are begging for places to turn.

If you feel like you can’t turn to Washington, the major newspapers, TV, cable news, or trust your mail, your bank, or your brother-in-law, and especially if you have always suspected that your cats are lying to you…..

Turn to us.

Lowell and I want to provide you a daily dose of commentary and access to  news sources that WE trust.  We’ll keep an eye on the Dow Jones for your 401-k and for ours.  Make suggestions about important elections.  Lowell is knee-deep in hospital law and health care policy every single day.  He’ll keep an eye on what the Obama administration intends to do with your health benefits and Medicare.  I have been a public servant in big city schools for 25 years, and I’ll tell you the truth about what’s happening on school campuses and what to do if you want to have a voice in your child’s education.  Lowell’s a political buff, and I’m a media consultant, so you can also count on  us to tell it like it is in those two venues.

Finding reliable, rock-solid information has never been more crucial.  Every facet of our financial lives, our professional lives and our family lives depend upon it.   

If the mass media intends to publish opinion and pretend that it’s fact, you might try True North as an alternative.  Get the news  from two credible people who set up tents for boy scout camps, donate money they don’t have to great leaders, rescue lost animals, and sit on Executive Boards of free clinics, charter schools, and interfaith groups.  We are just like so many of you. We take pride in carrying water in this country.

We would like True North to be one of your favorite  sources for news and commentary.

Everyday we’ll be sifting the headlines and surfing the web, interviewing opinion-leaders and talking in the carpool lane so that we can drop bread crumbs that will lead you to measured, factual and thoughtful information.

So don’t be a stranger.

Sonja